Study Desk

Then all the people departed, each to his house, and David returned [home] to bless his household.

As David sat in his house (palace), he said to Nathan the prophet, "Behold, I live in a house of cedars, while the ark of the covenant of the LORD is under tent curtains."

"And it shall come to pass that when your days are completed and you must go to be with your fathers [in death], I will raise up one of your descendants after you, one of your own sons; and I will establish his kingdom.

"He shall build Me a house, and I will establish his throne forever.

"I will be his father and he shall be My son; and I will not take My steadfast love and mercy away from him, as I took it from him (King Saul) who was before you.

"But I will settle him in My house and in My kingdom forever, and his throne shall be established forevermore."'"

"Therefore now, O LORD, let the word which You have spoken concerning Your servant and his house endure forever, and do as You have said.

David also defeated Hadadezer king of Zobah as far as Hamath, as he went to establish his dominion to the Euphrates River.

he sent Hadoram his son to King David to greet him and to bless (congratulate) him, because he had fought against Hadadezer and had defeated him; for Hadadezer had been at war with Tou. And Hadoram brought all kinds of articles of gold and silver and bronze.

So David reigned over all Israel and administered justice and righteousness for all his people.

Now it came about after this, that Nahash king of the Ammonites died, and his son became king in his place.

David said, "I will be kind (gracious) to Hanun son of Nahash, because his father was kind to me." So David sent messengers to comfort him concerning [the death of] his father. And the servants of David came to the land of the Ammonites to comfort Hanun.

But the leaders of the Ammonites said to Hanun, "Do you think that David has sent people to console and comfort you because he honors your father? Have his servants not come to you to search and to overthrow and to spy out the land?"

When the Ammonites saw that they had made themselves hateful to David, Hanun and his people sent 1,000 talents of silver to hire for themselves chariots and horsemen from Mesopotamia, Aram-maacah, and Zobah.

So they hired for themselves 32,000 chariots and the king of Maacah and his troops, who came and camped before Medeba. And the Ammonites gathered together from their cities and came to battle.

The rest of the soldiers he placed in the hand of Abishai his brother, and they lined up against the Ammonites.

"Be strong and let us show ourselves courageous for the sake of our people and for the cities of our God; and may the LORD do what is good in His sight."

David took the crown of their king from his head and found that it weighed a talent of gold and that there was a precious stone in it; so it was set on David's head. He also brought a very great amount of spoil (plunder) out of the city [of Rabbah].

These were descended from the giants in Gath, and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants.

Joab said, "May the LORD add to His people a hundred times as many as they are! But, my lord the king, are they not all my lord's servants? Why then does my lord require this? Why will he bring guilt on Israel?"